The nitrogen-heterocyclic compound 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) is one of the components of coal tar and has a wide variety of uses in industry. Because of its toxicity for aquatic organisms and harmful effects for human health, the removal of 8HQ from aqueous solutions by adsorption onto natural bentonite was investigated in the present work. The experimental results show that the optimum pH value of 2.5 is favourable for the 8HQ adsorption. The experimental data were fitted well with the pseudo-second-order kinetic and Langmuir adsorption isotherm models at all studied temperatures. The maximum adsorption capacity obtained from the Langmuir isotherm model at 20 degrees C was 120.6 mg g (1). The calculated thermodynamic results such as Delta G degrees (-24.3 kJ mol (1)) and Delta H degrees (-9.56 kJ mol (1)) indicate that the adsorption process is spontaneous and exothermic in nature. Solid phase extraction of 8HQ was also performed. The X-ray diffractometry (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) and thermogravimetric (TG) analyses were carried out in order to confirm the 8HQ adsorption onto bentonite. According to the obtained results, natural bentonite can be a reusable and effective adsorbent for the removal of 8HQ. (C) 2010 Published by Elsevier B.V.